*Caterina*
“Are you alright?” Elio asked softly.
“Yeah.” I gave a slight nod and pried my eyes from Antonio to look at Elio. Part of knew that deep down I was lying through my teeth. Of course, I wasn’t okay, but I wasn’t exactly going to ask to leave at this point.
“Do you rember the room on the second floor of that warehouse, the place where we had lunch that one ti?”
“Yes,” I answered.
Suddenly, his voice grew somber. “This warehouse has the sa room. I need you to wait up there, understand?”
I knew better than to think he was asking to do this rather than ordering . Elio wanted to be clear out of sight and as far away from the pending danger as possible. And I was in no mood to try to argue with him.
“Alright,” I agreed.
He gave a small smile and called over for Leo. “You’re going to be sticking to her the entire ti, got it?”
Leo nodded without so much as a word.
I snapped my attention back to him instantly. I struggled to hide the spike of panic in my voice as I spoke. “What about you?”
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to be out in the open either,” he told .
Elio leaned down to press a chaste kiss to the side of my head before gently pushing to follow Leo. I felt the warmth of his hands vanish. And thus, my anxiety returned with a vengeance.
I trailed behind Leo until we were both tucked away, and I continuously tried to assure myself that this would soon be over.
A plan was in motion.
When Elio and I had been making our way over to the warehouse, I had to admit I was a bit anxious. How could I not be? This wasn’t just your typical eting with his team and Francesco. They already had Antonio in custody.
If anything, I should’ve been feeling a sense of relief. This whole chaotic ss was soon going to be over. But I’d been quivering at the thought of facing Antonio again. The last ti I’d seen him was the night I almost lost my mother. I wanted to think that I was stronger now than I was all those months back. Yet the unnerving sensation that continued to coil in my stomach, told that I was wrong.
At first, it had been strange seeing Antonio bound to that chair. He’d certainly proved himself to be sneaky and resourceful when it ca to tracking him down. But it was obvious that his luck had officially run out. This image of him being so elusive, untouchable ghost had finally co to an end.
Leo directed to the corner of the room, the farthest one away from what we knew would happen downstairs. They kept the building as dark as possible while everyone got into their respective positions. It wasn’t long until we all caught sight of glowing headlights slowly approaching outside.
Leo had crouch down, and the reality of our situation was once again becoming far too real, and I was desperate to keep myself ntally grounded. Elio was downstairs with everyone else, waiting for Junior to step through the doors.
My stomach churned with worry for his safety as well as my own.
I knew well enough that casualties were inevitable when it ca to monts like these. And I didn’t think of myself as soone who openly wished pain and violence on other people.
Then again, Antonio was a man who deserved to pay for the harm he caused. All the pain and chaos he and his son had inflicted was finally going to co back and bite them both in the ass.
And I truly couldn’t say that I felt sorry for either one of them.
A few minutes passed before I heard the main doors of the warehouse slam open. I could see through the corner of the glass window that Junior had entered the place along with four other n around him. They gave the area a thorough search while gingerly drawing their guns up for a suspecting attack.
Junior began calling out for his father but was only greeted with silence.
Elio must have moved Antonio to another room, I thought. Junior and his n looked utterly lost and confused. God only knew what Elio had sent in that ssage to Junior earlier, but clearly it was enough to make the guy continue his search around the place.
“I ain’t seeing anything, boss,” one of Junior’s n muttered out loud.
“Yeah, neither.”
“You sure you got the right address?”
Junior let out a familiar sound of frustration that made my skin crawl with disgust. It brought back to the tis when the two of us were still together. Anyti I tried to do sothing my way or argued with ‘Paul,’ he’d always respond with the sa disgruntled sound like a child throwing a pitiful tantrum.
“Would you all shut the fuck up?!” Junior shouted furiously. “You two, go check those rooms on the side there.”
I would have given anything to steal a quick peek at Junior’s annoyed expression, but there was no way I would have run the risk of blowing our cover by being spotted. I was sure it was like when he realized that soone had placed a tracker on his car, knowing that, at least for a decent amount of ti, soone had gotten the better of him for once.
If Junior was known for anything, it was for being a major sore loser.
Junior was swiftly rejoined by the two n he’d sent out. They complained that once more they had found nothing.
“He wouldn’t have sent the address if there wasn’t sothing here,” he stated.
I found myself smirking coyly.
‘Oh, believe , Junior, there is, in fact, sothing here. And it’s going to blow your world to pieces,’ I thought bitterly.
I heard his group move further into the room. My stomach flipped when I heard Junior mutter sothing about checking upstairs. My head turned to see Leo, who appeared just as alert as .
He drew his gun up vertically while holding his forefinger up to his mouth, telling to be as quiet as humanly possible.
I was terrified that the n would find .
But that fear didn’t last long.
My heart lodged itself in my throat as a series of loud, violent gunshots broke through the silence. Even though my positioning was rather awkward in way of hiding, I was able to see the madness that was taking place. As soon as Junior and his n made their way toward the staircase, they were chaotically ambushed by Francesco’s n.
Junior began shooting without a mont’s hesitation. Part of him probably knew that this entire ordeal was a trap from the very second he’d arrived. The ongoing suspicion in his tone from earlier was evidence enough of that.
Yet he was firing away with his gun as if he really believed he was going to make it out of this place alive.
The room sward with loud voices, shouting curses and several more gunshots.
I quickly clamped my hands over my ears in hopes of muffling as much of the ear-piercing sounds as I could. My eyes, on the other hand, remained open and fixated on the rciless insanity on the floor below.
Out of the corner of my eye, I finally spotted Elio. He had purposely remained hidden for much of the fight until it seed opportune for him to join in. He acted with confidence and firm authority, which made feel sowhat at ease.
Unfortunately, with every gun fight ca the bloody casualties. Of the four n that Junior had brought along with him, three of them had fallen to the ground, as well as a few of Francesco’s n. No doubt, the wounds were fatal.
My heart ached in my chest for the tragedy, regardless of whose side they were fighting on.
At so point, the gunshots stopped and all I heard was the sound of thundering footsteps. Junior and the one man who remained with him ran out of the warehouse. Francesco and his n chased after them in wild pursuit.
I turned my head to see Leo nodding his head, assuring that it was safe to leave the room. My hands slowly fell away from my ears while I cautiously slipped down the staircase. I needed to find Elio and see that he was okay.
“Elio!” I called out.
I glanced around until I saw the back of him walking through the room with Antonio. He turned around to face and smiled.
“Cat!”
I felt breathless and utterly elated. I rushed to his side and threw my arms around him. It was then I realized that Antonio was among the injured.
“Oh, my God,” I muttered.
“One of the rogue bullets must have hit during the shootout,” Elio explained.
The bullet had struck Antonio directly in the chest, likely killing him instantly. I was genuinely surprised, but no more surprised than when I glanced up to see two of Francesco’s n walking back into the warehouse.
Both n looked purely exhausted and were short of breath as they spoke.
“Sir, we’ve captured the one man Junior had with him, but Junior has escaped.”
My eyes widened in disbelief while Elio let out a snarling noise of frustration.
“Fuck!” he shouted angrily. “Have Franky and the rest of you scope out the entire city. He couldn’t have gotten that far. No matter what it takes, find him!”
Once the n left us, my gaze fell back to a lifeless Antonio. Was it wrong of for not feeling happy that the man was dead? After all the damage and destruction that he’d caused, he certainly didn’t deserve an ounce of my sympathy... but I felt emotionless, though sowhat safer.
Elio placed Antonio’s body beside the others and hastily returned back to my side. He cupped my face in his warm hands and checked over for any possible injuries.
“Elio, really, I’m fine,” I assured him.
He pulled into a searing kiss and spoke against my lips.
“I swear I will never let you get this close to sothing so dangerous ever again,” he promised.
I could have argued against such a fruitless statent, considering life had proven to be nothing short of unpredictable.
What about Junior? Were Francesco’s n capable of finding him?
I wanted so desperately to believe that they would. With Antonio gone, we were more than halfway there. But in the anti, I simply allowed him to comfort and ease the tension in my muscles... until Elio took away that comfort with one sentence.
“I’m sending you ho,” he said.
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